Kiss of Life
by Ragna ICEland
Summary: Just one of those situations that might reasonably befall our beloved Luciano...


**N/A: Hello, I'm still getting notifications of people faving and reviewing my Stravaganza one-shots after all this time and asking me to write more and I felt I couldn't disappoint them so here's a new one! It's not actually new, it's a few years old to be honest, I'm so sorry I've been sitting on it like this. This was probably written sometime after reading the 4th book, I don't even remember... (btw, anyone else as HUGELY disappointed with City of Swords as I was?!). I always had difficulties with the ending of this particular little fanfic and that's why I never posted it, and I'm still not entirely happy with it, it's kind of sloppy but I hope you still like it :)**

**Anyway, I still have some ideas which I haven't gotten around to writing but we'll see. Enjoy!**

_**Kiss of Life**_

It was the morning after one of Bellezza's numerous celebrations. Not many people were up but there were a few shop-owners sweeping the streets in front of their stores and their assistants gathering litter into burlap bags, the smell of new bread wafted from the bakeries and blended with the rather fetid smell of the canals. Two or three little fishing boats rocked gently on the near still waters outside the harbor.

Two men strolled leisurely along one of the main canals towards the Ducal Palace. They could have been father and son; both were rather tall and well-knit –though the older man was somewhat more slender in build, both had long, black hair tied at the back of their heads with silk ribbons –though the older man's hair was starting to lighten with age and both had dark, thoughtful eyes –both wizened with experience. They were both dressed richly; the younger man wore colorful clothes of fine materials while the older one was dressed in his usual black velvet but neither carried jewelry, save simple, silver rings on the middle-finger of their right hands. They even walked in a similar manner –though the younger man stood slightly straighter –while conversing animatedly. However, they were not father and son in a biological sense; they were the fellow-stravagantes Duke Luciano and his father-in-law, the Regent Rodolfo.

Strictly speaking, he had given up that title at the time of his daughter's marriage to the young man walking beside him when she was fully initiated into office but the public continued to refer to him as the Regent. He retained his position as a Senator and was still considered one of the city's most authoritative figures and, naturally, the Duchessa's most trusted advisor.

The Bellezzan citizens were also very happy with their new Duke despite his dubious origin. The Duchessa had reigned alone for decades; hardly anyone remembered what it was like to have a Duke. The change was not drastic but there was something comforting about the way the young Duke always stood by his wife, protective, solid and unwavering. The Duchessa _was_ Bellezza. –And when the Duchessa was in good hands, the city must be too.

The two men were on their way home from a visit to Luciano's foster parents; Leonora and the founder of the Stravaganti Brotherhood, Guglielmo Crinamorte or William Dethridge as Luciano still called him. He was a great scientist and he had set out this morning to commence yet another lecture tour in Padavia and Luciano and Rodolfo had gone to see him off.

As they neared the Ducal palazzo, they came upon a group of people clustered around something. There was a somber atmosphere about the scene.

The people immediately made way for their superiors and they realized what it was that the people had been crowding around. A woman lay sobbing across the chest of a teenager who lay still on the canal bank, pale and dripping wet. It was obvious what had happened.

"How long was he in the water?" Luciano asked, dropping to his knees beside the boy.

A young man, who was just as wet as the boy on the ground, stepped forward. "I don't know, my Lord. I saw him a few moments ago and got him up. I tried to wake him up but… I don't even think he's breathing. We have sent for a doctor…"

The people watched their Duke run his hands over the boy; his mouth, neck, chest and wrists. Then he leaned down and placed his ear to his mouth.

The crowd mumbled. What was he doing? He wasn't a doctor. But then everyone knew that the Regent was a magician, who knew what he might have taught his former apprentice?

"Everyone, please be quiet!" the Duke ordered firmly and his order was obeyed, though more out of surprise than civil obedience. The boy's mother gazed on with a fearful expression.

Luciano listened again and then he quickly opened his patient's shirt, placed one hand on top of the other above his heart and began pumping. He worked with great speed, counting aloud to thirty. Then he leaned the boy's head back, squeezed his nostrils shut between his fingers and –inducing a collective gasp of shock from the on-lookers –leaned down and placed his mouth over the boy's. He blew twice and watched the chest rise from the corner of his eye. Then he straightened himself and started pumping again, hard and fast, using all his weight and after that, he again filled the boy's lungs with his own air. He kept repeating his actions.

This was a novelty to the Bellezans but at least a few sharper minded had a vague idea of what he was trying to do.

Pump and breathe. It wore him out quickly; his motions weakened and his breathing became wheezy and the sweat leaked down his forehead, plastering his hair to it. But he kept going. Pump and breathe.

Every now and then he paused to check for signs of breathing and then went back to his methods. Pump and breathe.

After some time, Rodolfo knelt next to him. "Luciano, I don't think you can do much more," he said softly. "You have been doing this for almost thirty minutes."

The younger man replied with a hard look and nothing else as he kept thrusting down on the boy's chest with all the energy he had left. Pump and breathe.

Rodolfo bit down on his lip in agitation as Luciano leaned down once more to try to breathe life into the boy.

"Is there anything I can do to h…?"

Suddenly the boy spluttered and coughed up some water, startling everybody around but he remained unconscious. Luciano rolled him onto his side so the water wouldn't go back into his mouth.

This time the people held their breath while he checked the boy's breathing and when he had assured himself that it was normal, he arranged the his posture so that he was lying on his side with one hand under his cheek and the other hand and one leg situated so that it prevented him from rolling to his stomach.

Finally, Luciano sat back and took deep breaths. He was shaking.

The doctor, who had been sent for and had arrived short while ago, was staring at him with an awed expression. But it was a strange mix of awe, frustration and even some fear; to see a young man, not even 20 years old with no known medical training, revive a person in this strange, yet brilliant manner.

Of course, strange things happened around the whole ducal family and so many things about them were shrouded in mystery but this… this was too real.

But after the initial shock, the doctor realized the Duke was completely exhausted. He opened his case and got out a bottle of strong scented oil which he uncapped and held under the Duke's nose to keep him from passing out.

Drawing strength from Rodolfo, Luciano was able to stand up. The doctor promised to take the unconscious boy under his care and give the Duke news of his condition.

With support from his father-in-law, Luciano managed to walk the short distance to the palazzo where they were received by several footmen who were then replaced by servants. Luciano was not entirely aware of how he got to the bedroom and from there to Rodolfo's working quarters, though of course he knew they must have taken the secret passage

After a while, he had recovered enough to be able to take in his surroundings. He was sitting on a couch in Rodolfo's laboratory with Silvia sitting next to him ready with a glass of wine and eyeing him with concern and curiosity. Rodolfo sat opposite to him with a similar expression, mixed with puzzlement and something else, reverence? It made Luciano uncomfortable.

Rodolfo was the first to speak. "Are you feeling better?"

Accepting the glass from Silvia, Luciano nodded. "Yes."

There was silence while the Senator regarded his son-in-law with the same look. Luciano wanted to speak to end it but didn't know what to say. Rodolfo finally spoke again.

"You know so much," he simply said, sounding almost frightened.

"Look, I know I probably shouldn't have done that but I just didn't have time to ask whether you had discovered CPR here and I was worried about the boy and…" Luciano rambled until Rodolfo interrupted him.

-"Luciano, please, I would never scold you for using your knowledge to save lives, isn't that what we do as Stravaganti? …what is seepeeare?"

"C.P.R.: It's an acronym for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and basically that means, well, what I just did; Chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth to help an… unbreathing person to breathe," Luciano explained.

-"And everybody in the 21st century knows this?"

-"Well, I guess most people have an idea though they might not know exactly how to perform it but anyone can learn it. In my school, I was a member of the swimming team and we all had to take first aid courses."

"If so, what is the purpose of doctors?" Silvia asked.

-"Doctors know much more complicated ways of saving lives; they know how to operate on people –having access to tools to open the living body or even insert things into it to see inside it and remedy the malady –and how to use drugs correctly and such."

They mulled over this for a while until Silvia stood. "These secrets of the Stravaganti are not for my ears. I will go to Arianna, if word of this has reached her, she will no doubt be worried," she said and left through the passage to the palace.

"We should probably not ask about this," said Rodolfo after some silence and continued as if to himself. "I sometimes forget how much older than us you truly are. You know so much."

The young man shook his head. "No more than you do."

His father-in-law smiled ruefully. "Perhaps, but my knowledge would be quite useless in the 21st century."

Luciano smiled back. "I don't know about that, I think you could teach the 21st century population a thing or two. In fact, I think there is something to be learned from most Talians about the outlook on life. After all, the Stravaganti from my old world all come here to heal, don't they?"

"It is true but they usually help us more than we help them," Rodolfo insisted.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Luciano said consolingly.

"And you did not heal," the other went on.

Then Luciano laughed. "No, I did not. Bellezza breathed new life into me; I was cured of cancer which they still can't heal properly in the 21st century. That must mean something. So you can quit feeling guilty about it."

Rodolfo did not look completely convinced.

"Could you manage any damage control?" asked the Duke.

"There was no damage done, quite the contrary," Rodolfo replied confusedly.

-"No, I mean, could you glamour all the people, make them forget the incident?"

Rodolfo sighed. "I did not even think… I was so concerned about you. No doubt this will make a long lasting gossip material for the people. Such stories are always distorted to the point where the truth is beyond recognition so I don't think we need to worry."

The younger man shrugged. "Oh well, I suppose they will tell stories about how the Goddess came over me in the hour of need. I think it may earn me some respect if it gets out."

"I'm sure they already do respect you," Rodolfo said, then suddenly grinned. "You shall be known as the duke with the healing hands…and people will flock here from all over to receive 'the kiss of life'."

"Who's kissing whom?" Arianna asked from the doorway of the secret passage.

"Regretfully, no one at the moment," Luciano said, his face lighting up as he rose to greet his wife. "But that situation will be mended presently."


End file.
